The present application is based on and claims priority from Japanese Patent Application Hei 11-28192 filed on Feb. 5, 1999, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ac generator for a vehicle, and particularly to a stator lead-wire arrangement of an ac generator.
2. Description of the Related Art JP-A-4-165949 and JP-A-4-26345 disclose ac generators which have a frame, a stator, a rotor, a rectifier unit, a brush unit, and a voltage regulator. The stator has a three-phase stator winding and accommodated inside the frame, and the rectifier unit is fixed outside the frame. In this type of ac generator, it is necessary to have a plurality of lead-wire-holes at a wall of the frame for a plurality of lead wires extending from the stator winding through the frame to be connected to the rectifier unit.
As the number of holes increases, the wall becomes more uneven, thereby causing a loud fan noise. Moreover, because the number of insulators to be inserted into the holes increases, the production cost increases.
A main object of the invention is to provide an improved lead-wire arrangement of an ac generator for a vehicle.
Another object of the invention is to provide an ac generator which has an inexpensive structure for suppressing a fan noise.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, an ac generator including a stator having a multi-phase stator winding, a rectifier unit, a frame having a wall supporting the stator at one side thereof and the rectifier unit at the other side. The wall has a minimal number of lead-wire-holes for the output lead wires. Terminal members may be disposed in the lead-wire-holes for holding the output lead wires.